MAMATA BANERJEE
ORK CAN’T BE STOPPED. MONEY WILL IMPROVE SPORTS FACILITIES.” Ghosh. Tapan Bhattacharya, one of the few elders attached to the Russa Youngmen’s Association, corroborates this. But his version says the Election Commission’s men did not turn up, which is why the club boys were forced to go about distributing voter’s slips and doing other odd jobs.
Not only this, in the last municipality election in Salt Lake and the suburbs, both the local (pada) boys and outsiders took upon themselves the responsibility to chaperone voters to the booths. “From early morning on, we saw bikers in large numbers taking over the streets. Many of us, mostly the elderly, were under house arrest. We felt like strangers in our own locality having to negotiate between a motley crowd who were zooming around, either asking
IIIIIIThey function as Didi’s electioneering machinery
Go door-to-door to understand the pulse of the voters Scrutinise and revise the voters’ list Man party camps on election day Keep an eye on who’s voting and who’s not
Hit the streets in the TMC’s cause, like when Madan Mitra was arrested by the CBI in the Saradha scam case
Accused of extortion, threatening traders, land-grabbing and violence
IIIIIIIus to go back home or leading us to the polling station. People have seen how a 70-year-old was thrown on the road and beaten up by hooligans. No boys from the local clubs intervened, obviously because of their complicity,” says A.P. Chaudhuri, a resident of Salt Lake. Kolkata North MP Sudip Banerjee has even been heard saying at a club rally that supporters “needn’t take the party flag or wear the party badge. Just ensure the TMC wins in large numbers”.
Meanwhile, over the last four years, Mamata Banerjee has consistently increased the budget for the clubs, from Rs 15.5 crore in 2012 to Rs 150 crore in 2015-16. The number of beneficiaries has also gone up, from several hundred to over 7,000. Cash donations and rewards Festivals and felicitations Assistance for purchasing equipment Help with acquiring land for clubs Cash for developing infrastructure Employment opportunities MONEY TALKS In the first four years of TMC rule, the government’s debt has escalated to over Rs 1 lakh crore, mostly due to the various populist measures of the CM. The Rs 300 crore spent on the clubs in the last three years has now invited the ire of the accountant-general’s office.
The CAG has pulled up the state sports and youth affairs department repeatedly and sought explanation on the splurging beyond budgetary allocation. Recently in the Calcutta High Court, Justice Debangshu Basak, while hearing a case on the salary dues of 17 months of 91 teachers of Murshidabad (recruited under a central scheme now scrapped), has asked the state government to pay from the fund which is disbursing money to the clubs. He has set a deadline of four weeks for compliance, beginning on February 16.
But even such indictments have failed to rouse either the minister concerned or the secretaries of the department. In fact, everyone is tightlipped as far as the question of clubs are concerned. Syed Ahmed Baba, current secretary of the sports and youth affairs department, politely turned away this correspondent. “It’s not a good topic to ask. If you have nothing else to discuss, you may leave,” he said, even forgetting that he had ordered tea. The department has witnessed a change in the principal secretary at least five times in the last four years, which speaks volumes on why officials prefer to stay mum. Minister Arup Biswas also could not be contacted even after repeated attempts. Mails to his official website also went unanswered. FORGET THE RULES The rules say that a club qualifying for dole has to be registered, should have a bank account, proper papers, lease, ownership or tenancy rights of the land. However, no one bothers to go by the rule book in Bengal. Like in Gouribari lane in North Kolkata,
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